UK

Regulus Partners, the strategic consultancy focused on international gambling and related industries, takes a look at some key developments for the gambling industry in its ‘Winning Post’ column. New Zealand: NZRB – the trouble with monopolies? New Zealand Racing Board’s results to July 2018 demonstrate continued progress online, with 20% growth in customers to 230,000 (nearly 5% of NZ’s population), …

Arena Racing Company (ARC) is set to be tightening its belts following the Government’s decision to crackdown on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs), announcing a reduction to its prize-money contribution by £3 million in 2019. The racetrack operator told The Racing Post that further reductions in prize money could not be ruled out, and that ARC “simply cannot continue” to maintain its …

Only four months into multi-year deals to broadcast Italian Serie A, Spanish La Liga, Swedish Allsvenskan and Dutch Eredivisie football, and before deals to show the Chinese Super League and UFC have even started, widespread reports suggest Eleven Sports may be forced to pull the plug on its UK gamble. Back in August, while collating TV coverage data for its …

Betway has encouraged sports fans to trust their convictions after launching ‘The Hunch’, the operator’s first marketing campaign in partnership with Saatchi & Saatchi. Three new 30-second TV adverts – supported across social, display, radio and print – will introduce brand character ‘The Hunch’ as a “charming, larger than life figure who charismatically occupies a part of every betting punter’s …

For sector incumbents, 2018 will be remembered as the year of US market liberalisation, continued multi-billion M&A activity, record UKGC penalties, FOBTs reductions and strained relationships between betting and its wider stakeholders (media, the community, politics, governing bodies etc…) Amid all this mayhem, the sector has seen little with regards to fresh blood, delivering much needed new propositions and perspectives. …

The Football Association has confirmed its Chief Executive Officer Martin Glenn will stand down at the end of this season. During Glenn’s four year tenure at the FA, the governing body ended its ‘official betting partnership’ with Ladbrokes just one year into its four-year contract with the betting operator, which was reportedly worth £4 million per year. The decision came after an …

UK regulatory and policy stakeholders have publicly backed yesterday’s confirmation by the Industry Group for Responsible Gambling (‘IGRG’) to implement a whistle-to-whistle ban on betting advertising during live TV sports programming. In 2019, the IGRG – a collective body of industry operators and trade associations – will re-establish a new code for betting advertising practices, helping the UK Advertising Standards Authority …

The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) has recommended cutting the maximum number of runners in races at Cheltenham from 24 to 20 to decrease the amount of fallers at the Festival. This was part of a review into the annual meeting – one of the biggest events on the sports betting calendar – designed to increase the sport’s welfare and subsequently secure its …

Coral’s £1m Smart Money Series, a free-to-play (FTP) set of games powered by SportCaller, will take centre stage as the PDC World Darts Championships gets underway tonight in London. The first offering of the series, which is set to continue throughout 2019, asks players to answer 10 ‘prediction teasers’ related to the action at the Alexandra Palace. Players can enter …

Barry Fry, the current Director of Football at League One side Peterborough United, has been charged by the FA for allegedly breaching betting rules. The charges relate to claims that the former chairman-manager of the Posh had placed a bet during the 2017/2018 season, an action that’s forbidden for those involved in the game. Issuing a statement, the FA outlined: “It …